DirectPlay has been dead and buried for MANY years. DirectSound got killed by the morons who rewrote the audio stack in Vista. As for DirectInput, please tell me what alternate API you suggest using for working with joysticks, throttles, pedals, and anything else that is not an Xbox controller.

Y'know, there used to be cool people working on DirectX at Microsoft, except for the flunkies that did DirectPlay. But all those cool people must've left and been replaced by .... well .... maybe that's what happened to those DirectPlay mofos. *FACEPALM*